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The planetary capital (as of 3069) was Columbia. It filled the valley that fell away from the municipal playing fields and rose half way up the wooded ridge beyond. Sandy tan and yellow were predominant building colors, with red tile roofs. The buildings were spaced enough to allow wide malls of trees and fountains; the overall impression was described as "semi-mediterranean".[33]

The world has at least one moon. The Jade Falcon attack force that arrived in early Januard 3069 used a pirate jump point very close to the planet, giving the defenders only two hours advance warning, which was thought to imply arrival "inside lunar orbit".[34]

Black Earth was one of four worlds acquired by the Rim Worlds Republic between 2347 and 2371 as an attempt by Arabella Rowe to expand the capabilities of the Republic armed forces; Black Earth was intended to be a "hedgehog", a giant fortified firebase that Republican forces could use to slow the advance of any invading force.[5]

With the Rim Worlds Republic in a state of civil war from 2575 even as the Reunification War was raging in the other major Periphery states, the Star League eventually found itself forced into deploying forces to secure the Republic and restore the rule of First ConsulGregory Amaris. The military operation to secure the Rim Worlds was named Operation MAILED FIST and was expected to be a short campaign; combat operations began in mid-2581, and Black Earth was both the fourth Republic world to be targeted by the Star League Defense Force and the first world targeted that lacked a front-line Republican force as garrison.[35]

In April of 3050, Clan Jade Falcon invaded Black Earth as part of the Second Wave of Operation REVIVAL. The entire Gyrfalcon Galaxy was dispatched to conquer the world, which was defended by those survivors of both the First Grave Walkers and Seventeenth Skye Rangers who had managed to escape from earlier Falcon attacks. At the Black Earth Space Port the Jade Falcon aerospace contingent surprised its Seventeenth Skye counterparts while they were still on the ground, although in a show of fairness the Falcon aerospace commander allowed the enemy pilots to get in their fighters and take off before being destroyed. When the ground attack against the space port began the Seventeenth Skye managed to resist for little over an hour against the Jade Falcons before being overrun. At New Houston the Grave Walkers set fire to the oil at one of the refineries in hopes of using the resulting black smoke to screen their forces, only to learn that such a trick was useless against the superior technology of the Clans. From opening shot to the defenders' final surrender the battle for Black Earth took less than thirty hours.[36]

In late January 3069 Black Earth was captured for a second time by Clan Jade Falcon.[26] Both regiments of the Blue Star Irregulars were shattered on the ground during the Jade Falcon assault; the survivors attempted to retreat from Black Earth along with a flotilla of civilian refugees, only to be attacked again in space by Jade Falcon forces. The Falcons attacked with a Congress-class frigate and a Vincent-class corvette[37][38] - subsequently identified as the CJF Lightning Strike[38] - destroying JumpShips and DropShips as the Fredasa-class WarShip operated by the Blue Star Irregulars, the Kerensky's Blues, attempted to place itself between the Falcon WarShips and the refugees. The Kerensky's Blues managed to deal with the CJF Lightning Strike,[38] but was unable to prevent the Congress-class ship from butchering almost all of the fleeing Irregulars' forces before destroying the Blues as well. The battle was reported in the media via an INN journalist aboard the Loyal Son, a fleeing Overlord-class DropShip and one of the vessels escaping from Black Earth.[37][38]